As soon as they were off to the side, Phil let go of Jennifer's hand. She was actually pretty glad about that, and tried to stretch her fingers inconspicuously. Stuff was happening. Marco was questioning the blood on Alex. Blood? Jennifer paused for a second. There was blood on the boy, wasn't there? Funny. After spending time with Phil, with Nick, with a corpse, the sight of blood didn't even mean anything to her anymore. It was just another thing people wore.

Alex explained. His words, were they true? Jennifer couldn't even begin to guess. She'd lost touch with honesty long before the abduction, had lost herself in a web of lies, all for the best, all for others. No one could be that different. If Alex was lying, if he was telling the truth, what did it even matter? Jennifer had helped a murderer before. Given the chance, she would do so again. No one could really be blamed for what the island had made them. No one could be faulted for losing themselves. If some were more dangerous than others, that was only to be expected. As long as they didn't try to hurt her, or the people she cared about, she would try to show them a little kindness. She would do her best for everyone, like she had always done, would do the best that could be done in any given situation.

And that meant following directions. That meant not trusting her own traitorous judgment. She had messed up before. Never again.

So, when Alex asked if he could come along, Jennifer didn't say anything. Rhory slipped off again. One less wild factor in the situation, one more girl lost to the unknown, potentially on her way to death. Try to care. And then, Phil suggested, in a much nicer way than he had before, that maybe Alex should go with her. Phil backed down quickly, though, asking the opinions of the others with him. Jennifer didn't have an opinion, not anymore, so she just waited. Waited to see what the others would say. Shrugged and smiled and handed the responsibility cleanly off to someone who wouldn't make a mess of it.